rachel maddow show is up next. good evening. >> thanks for staying with us for the next hour. you know when you're a kid and you go on a road trip or are in the car with mom or whoever at the wheel, you're the kid in a car and you pass a trucker on the road, what do you do to a truck? you go -- honk your horn motion with your arm. i was a very, very serial offender of doing this when i was a kid. but if the trucker sees you do that as a kid and honks at you, that is the best thing in the whole world when that happens. well, today in midtown manhattan while sitting on my desk, i witnessed an only on new york, only on summer vacation update. it was open top tour buses, full of school kids visiting new york on summer vacation, open-top

tour buses, convertible double-decker buses, driving through mitttown manhattan, and the kids in the buses are screaming and clapping and cheering at the top of their lungs up toward all of these new york city skyscrapers they are driving past. what are they doing? trying to get us worker bees, us little people working in the office buildings in midtown manhattan to wave at them as they go by. of course, the streets are packed right now, they are also trying to get the tourists on the streets and everybody else packing the sidewalks to wave and clap for them too. it was so loud, it was so great, it was like a roving standing ovation all through midtown today. i love summer vacation, even when i am not on it. but summer vacation for kids in some rural school districts in new mexico and idaho and a few other states has a slightly

different vibe this year than had has in years past. that's because at the end of this summer vacation this year, kids in september in those states will not be going from the glory of summer vacation back to five straight days of school every week, they'll be going from the glory of summer vacation back to four straight days of school. three-day weekends. kids in hawaii got put on this schedule a couple of years ago as well. while a three-day weekend sounds great to us working sticks, the kids of new mexico, idaho, and hawaii are not going down to a four-day school week to give them a taste of vacation all year round, they are going to a four-day school week because we can't afford to keep our schools open five days a week. tough times, can't afford it. in the town of alto, texas, kids are expected to be in school five days 5 week, but the town

decided they have to cut back on police force. they are not cutting back on police officers or hours of police officers working, alto, texas, is eliminating the entire police force. this is a town of 1,200 people. a city councilman explains the town of alto is so broke "we had to do something. the police department being a non-money making entity was the easiest to get rid of while we catch our breath." the town of alto, texas, fired its police chief and all four police officers, padlocked the police department, and are hoping for the best. the sheriff's department has an office 12 miles away but say they will do what they can. it's tough times. can't afford it. good luck. want to know what else we can't afford anymore? the story about the e. coli outbreak in europe, mostly in germany that got more than 4,000

people sick, killed more than 40 people. that outbreak of e. coli was not a typical strain of the bacteria, it was a rare form that was eventually traced to a sprout farm in northern germany. the scary thing about that for americans is the food and drug administration here in the u.s. does not regularly screen for that strain of e. coli. it strains for standard e. coli, the 0157-h-7 strain, but not the kind that caused fatalities in europe. fortunately, even though our fda doesn't screen for the strain, there is a program that does, called the microbiological data program that costs tax payers less than $5,000 a year to scan produce that's susceptible to e. coli. when they find something dangerous, that leads to a product recall. as reported today, house

republicans have zeroed out funding for this e. coli screening program because who needs a government that screens for deadly forms of e. coli anyway? we can do that ourselves at home with our home testing kits. the e. coli testing program is not dead yet, but according to house republicans, hey, tough times. can't afford it. as my friend wrote at the washington monthly today, welcome to austerity in america. we can afford tax breaks for millionaires but can't afford five-day school weeks. when the obama administration's new education secretary got confirmed by the senate two years ago, he told the senate our school day is too short, our school week is too short. in terms of our global competitiveness, that's what everybody believes about american education, yet the summer school budget in los angeles county this summer went

from an $18 million budget to a $3 million budget. not that we think it's a better idea to not have summer school in l.a. this year, we're just not doing it. tough times. we choose to cut back on that. the u.s. senate was supposed to be off this week for the july 4th recess. they decided to stay in d.c., instead, to have a big fight in washington about what we are going to prioritize in this country, what we are going to spend money on and not going to spend money on. the president said yesterday the fight about the debt ceiling is not going to be some short-term stop-gap measure to tie the fight over to another day. the president said he wants to have the fight now. we are coming out of the great recession, but still tough times economically. given that, how should we be allocating our resources as a country? the republican stance in this big argument, the republican position is that they will not allow taxes to go up one penny,

even if democrats only want to raise taxes on the richest people in the country. >> a tax hike cannot pass the u.s. house of representatives. it's not just a bad idea, it doesn't have the votes, and it can't happen. the american people don't want us to raise taxes. >> american people do not want us to raise taxes, makes for a nice, tidy, talking point in this fight. it does not, however, appear to be a true talking point. most recent poll to poll on this question said when asked if they would support a federal surtax, an extra tax on those earning over $1 million a year, 81% of americans said they'd support that. 81% of americans do not agree that ice is cold or the word "the" has a "t" in it, but 81% agreed raise taxes on millionaires. when asked if they can support phasing out bush tax cuts for

those raising a quarter of a million a year, 68% of americans said yes. the american public is actually quite overwhelmingly cool with some taxes being raised on the wealthiest in the country. republicans have also been adamant taxes on u.s. corporations should not be allowed to go up at all, american people would not support that, they'd say. but when you ask americans, the majority think corporations are not paying their fair share, 56% of americans say corporations are paying less than their fair share, 22% say they are paying the right amount. turns out the american public is more astute than you might think they'd be about what corporations are doing with the money they get from their various tax breaks. 61% of americans say what companies are doing with their tax breaks is using that money to pay bonuses and dividends. only 23% of americans say they are using that money to reinvest

in their business. 4% sayhey are using that money to create new jobs for american workers. the republican argument of this big direction of our country fight in washington right now is that corporations need to have giant tax breaks because they'll use that money to create jobs. only 4% of americans believe that is true. a republican argument right now is that high taxes on corporations in the u.s. are stifling job creation here and corporations need more tax payer money because they'll use that to create jobs. in terms of what corporations pay in taxes overall, here's how we stack up to the rest of the world. that's us down near the bottom. we are all the way at the bottom of the list, second lowest in the developed world. that's a pretty sweet deal for corporations that do business in america. that's generally as a proportion of gdp. looking at citi group, they were a recipient of huge tax breaks in 2010.

the corporate tax rate is 45%, citi group only paid 16.9% last year. what did that massive tax break translate to? citi group getting rid of more than 5,000 jobs between 2009 and 2010. how about the pharmaceutical company johnson and johnson, their tax rate in 2010 was just 23 -- 21.3%. what did that mean for jobs at johnson and johnson? it meant a fifth straight year of job reductions at that company, over five years of huge corporate tax rates for them, the company killed 8,000 jobs. general electric, part owner of this network, last year the tax rate was a measly 7.4%. the corporate tax rate you hear about is 45%. they only paid 7%. did those tax breaks lead to american jobs, jobs, jobs? no, their work force shrunk by

17,000 employees. same with hewlett packard. knock 15% off that, keep it for yourself of the what does the tax payer get for that towards hewlett packard and their 22.2% corporate tax rate? u.s. taxpayer gets didly, but overseas got shipped to them what used to be america's hp jobs despite the massive, massive, massive corporate welfare, tax loop holes do not translate to more jobs here in america. the argument in washington right now is hey, tough times. we can't afford stuff like e. coli screening and five-day school weeks anymore, can't afford luxuries like that. any money we got right now, we got to spend it on giving corporations more tax breaks or else. >> if you raise taxes on the people that we need to grow our

economy and to hire new workers, guess what, they are not going to do it if they have to pay higher taxes to the federal government. >> corporations need these tax cuts, more of them for jobs or something. that argument may hold sway in washington. when you ask the american people if they believe it, 4% agree. i admit it's not right to have the fight right now in the middle of summer vacation, but i have to tell you if any fight is worth having, this fight is worth having. joining us now, charles schumer sits on the finance committee. senator schumer, thank you so much for being here. >> good to be with you, rachel. >> what do you think the likelihood is the parties are just too far apart on these basic questions, can't be an agreement on raising the debt

ceiling, we are at risk of hitting it. >> you have hit the nail on the head. the thing that's holding it up is the insistence on the republican side that we do no revenues, that we cannot even close the most egregious of tax loop holes on the very, very wealthy. and you're right, when you're wealthy, the way you get the government to help you is a tax break. when you're middle class or poor you don't have the ability to do that. so by saying no one, no one should have their taxes or the loop holes closed or tax rates raised for people above $1 million, they are putting the entire burden of this deficit, which is a real burden on middle class and poor people and american people are wise to that. we are making this fight, we are debating this week instead of being away on recess a resolution that says millionaires and billionaires should pay their fair share and partake in the sacrifice everyone else has to partake in,

and we're gaining ground. the republicans are feeling the heat. >> the resolution you described, a sense of the senate resolution that millionaires and billionaires, as you say, should play a part in bringing down the deficit, sort of sharing the burden. why bring that up as a non-binding resolution? why proceed with something like that that's not binding legislation? >> well, we hope to influence both the public and those making the decision, and if you're quiet about this issue, speaker boehner, senator mcconnell and the republicans will hold their ground, but they are feeling the heat when we point out that for instance, they want to give yacht owners a tax break that you can treat your yacht as a second home and use the mortgage deduction, when they resist the fact that when you buy a corporate jet you get a special tax break, a bigger one than delta airlines buys. when they fight the fact that

everyone else is paying but the highest-income people are getting the largest tax break, we make real progress, so debating this resolution is putting pressure on them. you know what they've done through the years, rachel, they say the democrats want to raise your taxes and they make the upper middle class person think we mean them, finally, what we're doing here is drawing the distinction by saying yes, anyone under $250,000, we don't want to touch your taxes, but the people above, yes, you should be part of the sacrifice, and i think we're gaining ground. >> when you say you're gaining ground, the president is due to meet with leaders of both parties tomorrow at the white house, from your perspective in the senate leadership, do you think something is close to being agreed to, do you see movement? >> no, i don't see us that close, but if the president holds his ground and we democrats hold our ground that the spending has to be equal to

spending cuts, then i think we can force them to move further than they've done. boehner says they don't have the votes, but we can say we have no votes for spending cuts. everyone has to give. they are not giving at all, we are willing to give on painful spending cuts, but not alone. there's got to be revenues that should be, we believe, the vast majority of democrats believe, higher revenues on corporate loop holes and people who make above $1 million should be half the deal. >> in laying out his own negotiating position this week, the president openly talked about the need to have trillions of dollars in spending cuts over the long-term, the fed and ceo say crimping spending in the short-term could put us at risk of getting us in another recession. do you think that they might be dangerous for the overall economy? >> i do think the deficit

problem is real. but in the immediate short-term, most of us, in fact, the democratic leadership sent a letter to the negotiators saying that job creation should be part of it as well, particularly in the early years. i'd like to see spending on infrastructure. our infrastructure is really in need of repair, and that creates the kind of construction jobs that would normally be created by the private sector and housing industry but isn't being created now. we'd like to do that, and perhaps jobs will be part of this package. i hope so of the i'm less optimistic in that regard than i am on trying to get revenues. we've drawn a strong line on revenues, i'm glad we're here this week debating that resolution, and i think if we stick with it, the public will finally understand that the sort of trick that republicans use, which says democrats want to raise taxes, meaning letting the average person think it's theirs when it's we want to make sure

it's those at the highest income participate in the pain that everybody else has to participate in. i think we're making some progress in that regard. >> senator charles schumer of new york, thank you for your time tonight. i really appreciate it. >> thank you, nice to talk to you, rachel. >> best thing on the internet today, a word. i defy you to watch the best new thing in the world and not say this word out loud to your television. i personally bet you you cannot resist saying it. i ate breakfast and got heartburn, third day this week. so i took my heartburn pill and some antacids. we're having mexican tonight, so another pill then? unless we eat later, then pill later? if i get a snack now, pill now? skip the snack, pill later...

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river bed, 5 and 8 feet down below the river bed. they said that until maybe that wasn't deep enough. i'm not sure, again, from the associated press, federal pipeline regulators contacted exxon mobile and were told it was not at risk, that it was buried 12 feet beneath the river bed. the company president disputed that report today saying the 12 foot one is not a report given out by exxon and he believes it was five to eight feet down. for now, just to review, exxon mobile said it was unlikely any oil was in the water, were that so -- right after the accident, exxon estimated the spill would affect a ten-mile area, a day later they acknowledged that wasn't so. officials now in north dakota are worried about oil reaching a lake in that state, a town hundreds of miles away. exxon also said no injured

wildlife had been found, though the associated press had pictures of injured turtles and pelicans. montana was telling them people were getting sick and going to the hospital and the epa warned some of the chemicals may cause headaches or vomiting. vooin schweitzer had been confirmed that emergency equipment in the event of a spill was staged, ready, close by, only to find out when the spill actually happened, close by, meant the equipment was in utah. now we have the questions about how long oil was gushing into the river and whether exxon told the truth and how deep the pipeline was buried and whether or not exxon has said that as well. this is a mess in the yellowstone river. it is also a mess of exxon

mobile's truthfulness about that spill. now, they have this new slide show up on their company website. at first i thought it was pitiful, two pictures in the whole slide show they got there. now i think this might be exxon mobile's most transparent moment in the spill yet, because this is the clean-up of yellowstone with 40-year old technology, you probably do get the picture from these two pictures they posted in the slide show, the lousy boom and paper towels. this is the response capability of the wealthiest corporation in the history of the united states of america. they said i couldn't fight above my weight class. but i did. they said i couldn't get elected to congress. but i did. ♪ sometimes when we touch ha ha! millions of hits! [ male announcer ] flick, stack, and move between active apps seamlessly. only on the new hp touchpad with webos.

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in december during the lame duck session of congress after the election, the senate voted to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" by a vote of 65 to 31, they ended the u.s. military's 17-year policy of firing people from our military for being gay. days later, president obama signed that repeal into law, and the pentagon started to put in place its long, comprehensive, detailed plan for repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. but as of this morning, that process of ending it was still playing out, seven months after repeal, the policy was technically still in effect, most people thinking it would not be complete until september. either september or maybe this afternoon. the 9th u.s. circuit court of

appeals, just one tier below supreme court ruled the government needs to get on with it already about "don't ask, don't tell" citing statements it is unconstitutional for the law to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, the 9th circuit court ordered it stop implementing "don't ask, don't tell" now, as immediately. a response saying we will, of course, comply with orders of the court and also said the defense department is reviewing the ruling with the justice department and the military will start notifying its personnel immediately. does this mean everybody in the military living a closeted life should come out immediately? well, the lawyer for the plaintiff organization in this case says no, telling the associated press today that gay service members are cautioned against coming out now until the government declares it intends to abide by the ruling.

the head of service members defense records says his organization hopes the defense department will not challenge the ruling. for more than two years now, u.s. air force loouieutenant colonel fehrenbach has been fighting the air force's efforts for firing him for being gay have made him a nationally-known symbol. he joins us now from idaho. colonel fehrenbach, thank you for coming on with us tonight. >> there have been many twists and turns for this policy, what's your reaction to the shutting down of the policy right away? >> you nailed it, rachel, there have been a lot of twists and turns. there were a lot of great news

today but i greet it with caution. they have a opportunity to challenge it in court once again august 29 or appeal directly to the supreme court. so we need some clarification once again. as you mentioned, they say they would comply with the order and take immediate action and notify the force, so again maybe we'll get clarification within days like we did in october where the news trickled out, but also, the thing that would end all of this confusion is if the president, secretary paneda and admiral mullen would appeal immediately within days of this ruling. we have gone through the training, the marines, the coast guard, the navy, the air force are all complete. the army it 75% complete with their training, so the thing that would end confusion is the president would certify repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" and make an announcement they don't

intend to repeal this order. >> in the meantime, until there's that clarification you're describing, i realize you're not a lawyer and have been in the middle of this and don't want you to speak beyond your level of comfort. but do you have advice for those in the military about disclosing their sexual orientation. is there any change whether or not people should feel comfortable coming out? >> no, in fact, the legal defense network put out a warning once again to service members that "don't ask, don't tell" is still the law of the land, that it is not safe for service members to come out. again, until we get clarification and again, the pentagon did say they take immediate steps to notify the force, but the one thing that would clarify this for everyone is the president, secretary of defense, and admiral mullen certify repeal and if they announce they would not appeal the ruling. there's still hundreds of cases -- my case technically is

still in limbo. i could be discharged tomorrow, but there are hundreds of cases sldn is taking care of, and there's tens of thousands of service members serving in harm's way, waiting for the certification to happen, waiting for "don't ask, don't tell" to be a page in history. >> in terms of your own case, i think we'll be able to make some news tonight. you were investigated under "don't ask, don't tell," facing being forced out of the air force after 18 years of service with -- forgive me, nothing to show for it but your chest full of medals at that point, can you tell me now what your next set of military orders are? >> as you know, i think you reported i received my retirement orders in january signed by the secretary of the air force, and in fact, just yesterday, another small step towards me seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in my case in particular was i received my certificate of retirement, the

official certificate signed by the chief of the air force and my official certificate of appreciation from president obama, so i do plan on retiring, it's effective 1 october and i plan on having a small ceremony over labor day weekend, and having those certificates in hand made this real for me. i also have a ticker in my office right now, i have 30 duty days left until i'm effectively retired. it's starting to feel real, but again, i'm the lucky one. we have hundreds of cases going on at this moment and tens of thousands of service members waiting for this to be over. >> lieutenant colonel victor fehrenbach, thank you for your time, good to see you and get this update from you, i appreciate it. >> you too, rachel. thanks. >> i wanted to say good-bye before i said this, but if anybody out there is looking for a guy is that served his country, fought for his country in two wars, then became a civil rights hero, i'm going to say,

not to put this out there, he didn't ask me to say it, but he's newly on the job market, first time since he joined the air force when he was a wee child. i'm just saying. his name is victor fehrenbach. bald, big arm muscles. you can't miss him. all right, senator james mountain, next to the phrase "rock-ribbed conservative" is also a pilot, and unlike victor fehrenbach, he is a terrible pilot, a terrible, dangerous pilot. he is also a vindictive terrible, dangerous pilot based on what he did today. this story about the senator is so weird. with bengay pain relief plus massage

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there was a runway closed for construction. the runway was marked closed. they painted a giant "x" on to it to show it was closed. not incidentally, the closed runway was also covered with a whole bunch of construction equipment and dozens of living, breathing, human construction workers of the undeterred, senator inhofe decided to land his private plane on the closed runway anyway. you may remember the smoking gun website got ahold of the faa documents about what senator inhofe did that day, as well as some of the witness audio. >> scared the crap out of us on the north end, then he started to land on the other side of us, and there were a couple of trucks there. he damn near hit us. landed on the runway anyway. >> did you get a call sign of the aircraft? >> yes, sir, i have it. i got the pilot's name is james

inhofe. he's standing right in the middle of us. i have a list of witnesses. i have about ten people on the runway, scared the death out of us, then some people up at the hangar, this is close to where the truck was coming up the runway, that boy pulled over, he wet his brichs. he was scared to death. he started to run to the side of the runway. the pilot could see him, or could have seen him. he was right on him. >> let me -- you said you had his name. what was his name again? >> james inhofe. they tell me he's a senator from oklahoma. >> he is a senator from oklahoma. senator james inhofe. in the end, senator inhofe got off easy. he was ordered to take remedial flying classes. how has senator inhofe responded to that?

by going after the faa with both barrels of the the senator maintains he was not at fault when he flew over a giant yellow "x" marking the runway closed. he said he was frustrated by how long it took to resolve his case from 2010 when he scared those people to january of this year when he found out about his punishment -- classes. about two and a half months worrying maybe he would lose his pilot's license, even though he didn't. now senator inhofe calls the overreach of the faa. senator inhofe almost landed a plane on a group of construction workers on a closed runway, but now he's the victim, and he's using his power as a senator to show that the government agency in charges of protecting us all from people who are as bad at flying airplanes as he is, that agency is the enemy and must be reigned in. senator inhofe saying i was

never fully appreciative of the feeling of desperation until it happened to me of the senator inhofe, i accept your feeling of desperation and i raise you this -- >> that boy pulled over, i think he actually wet his britchs, he was scared to death. ♪ ♪ ♪ look at that car, well, it goes fast ♪ ♪ givin' my dad a heart attack ♪ [ friend ] that is so awesome. ♪ i love my car [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] that first chevy, yea, it gets under your skin. ♪ a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice.

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this is the bridge over louisiana. the lake causeway, the longest bridge over water anywhere in the world. the longest bridge anywhere until last week when this ugly little number took the new record. this is a new bridge in eastern china that's just opened. it's more than the length of a marathon, 26.4 miles long, cost about $1.5 billion for china to build it. they got it done in about four years. it's so big you can see it from spras. the world economic forum keeps the list of infrastructure quality in the world, our ranking has fallen to 23. 23rd in the world in terms of quality of our infrastructure. usa. 23rd? seriously? but if you listen the way this gets talked about in washington, you might think there's hope for us to get back in the game here.

president obama talked about how he not only wants to invest in infrastructure, but he thinks he might be able to bring republicans around to that idea as well. >> at a time when interest rates are very low, contract workers are looking for work, and the need is there, that is something that could make a huge positive intact on the economy overall, and it's an example of making an investment now that ends up having huge payoffs down the road. we ha we haven't got the kind of cooperation on those types of ideas and initiatives, but i'm going to keep on trying, and eventually the speaker will see the light. >> by speaker he means john boehner. congressman john micah in florida, you'd think he might be on board with president obama on infrastructure. on the two-year anniversary of

the stimulus being acted, john micah certainly sounded like he wanted more infrastructure money. >> i stood on the floor of the house of representatives and begged them to double the money for infrastructure, then condense the amount of time to get the projects out. >> the congressman putting out a statement at the time as well saying funding for infrastructure appropriately invested can effectively create jobs. so if you are an infrastructure geek, if you say like bridges that don't fall down, this kind of thing is good news, because this is the republican chairman in the house saying he supports infrastructure. his complaint about the stimulus is that it didn't have enough infrastructure spending. so now in a country that's infrastructure ranked 23rd, ugly bridge in china, with senate democrats proposing a multi-billion bank for infrastructure investment.

with republicans putting an advocate in charge of infrastructure pending in the infrastruck fewer spending. now, in that great context, that congressman you saw is set to put out his proposal for how he wants to fund infrastructure. last year we were looking at $550 billion, this year we're looking at $230 billion. big difference. how anti-republican tea partiers are suggesting funding. $13 million in federal spending for a port project in ray lahood's district. why did he want that money? at the ribbon cutting ceremony, congressman finger said, we just wanted to make sure we could do

everything possible to create jobs, this was a part we could play. having pocketed that money for his district because he said it would create jobs, two days later congressman finger voted to cut billions of dollars of transportation funding federally. he put out a press release -- if you ask one tea party republican freshman congressman in tennessee. over $10 million in federal infrastructure spending in his own district can create jobs. that kind of spending anywhere else is ott of control and reckless and he's against it. if you ask the top infrastructure guy for the republicans in the house, whether infrastructure spending can create jobs, he says, yes, funding can create jobs. he's all for it, until he votes to cut it by a third. president obama saying today that he thinks republicans are going to see the light on this issue. why does he think that? joining us now is eugene robinson, pulitzer prize winning columnist for the post, and

someone who is more optimistic on this than i am. >> how are you doing, rachel? >> i'm good. >> i don't know how optimistic i am in the short term, maybe in the longer term. >> do you see any light at all here? do you think there could be any agreement about pursuing job creation by pursuing infrastructure investment? >> not job creation per say. it would have to be like a happy byproduct. government cannot and never does create jobs. tlfr, you can't have infrastructure projects can't create jobs. however, there is an iron clad rule in washington which says that -- as you noted, the rickety bridge that needs to be replaced in my district is vital infrastructure, if it's in somebody else's district it's out of control spending. now, one thing the administration can do, and in a more maciavellian administration

would do, ray lahood should figure out which district needs to get those transportation funds. that new senior citizen center or that road that's -- that really needs to be resurfaced. and you can improve things on the margins that way. >> do you think that's the sort of thing that needs to be done with republicans in secret? that's the sort of thing you can lure republicans in voting for things, or at least going along with things by offering them things that will make big difference in jobs and infrastructure in their district. is the political climate such that they can't own up to the fact that those thins would be a material good? >> well, eventually they have to own up to a simple arithmetic and basic logic. so you do have to put it out there, and have you to get them to the point where they recognize objective reality, we are number 23 and falling by the

way. i mean, it's not as if we're going to go up from there unless we put a lot of money in. president obama wanted to create a natural infrastructure bank, $550 billion. we're now talking 230 and change and state infrastructure banks setup is not going to be as effective, it's not going to get us where we need to get to. so you tell me rachel, how do you make republicans accept the arithmetic that is -- that underlies the budget that any sixth grader can understand? >> you make them -- you work very hard on making them embarrassed when they have raw hypocrisy on the subject. and some of us work that hard every day, but it never works. >> we'll keep trying, won't we? >> eugene robinson, thank you very much, gene. >> great to be here, rachel. >> coming up, awesome as this is

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the best new thing in the world today is not this, but it has to do with this. this is footage of the massive dust storm that engulfed phoenix, arizona today. a fast moving cloud of dust, a mile tall and up to 100 miles wide. downed trees, grounded flights, knocked out power to thousands of people. while yesterday's storm was unusually intense. big sandstorms are uncommon in

desert areas all over the world. the name is an arabic word, it is haboob. it is that, the official term for such a sandstorm that spawned the best new thing in the world today. newscasters and meteorologists had to keep repeating the word haboob over and over and over again. >> this is a haboob. not a madeup word, an official weather term. >> that's a haboob. >> haboob. >> we're going to talk haboob here. >> that's the official title, haboob. >> a haboob. >> this is a haboob in the making. >> gotta get a haboob hat, get that on the air. it's a word you can address